A Longbottom Mystery
by chocoluvr
Summary: Frank and Alice Longbottom bring their son Neville for a visit to Frank's parents to give them some disturbing news and to ask his mother to do something special for them. After Harry Potter defeated Voldemart the older couple get a nasty suprise.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter

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On a bright September day, a young couple with a toddler in tow appeared on the steps to the Longbottom manor. They had come to visit the toddler's grandparents, and to deliver them some disturbing news.

"I hope that your mother's home and we don't have to wait long for her; ," Alice Longbottom told her husband, anxiously as they waited for someone to answer the door.

"I hope that she takes the news well."

Her father-in-law, Charles, ushered them into the house.

"Who's at the door?" The young coupletwo of them could hear Augusta Longbottom asking from the drawing room.

"It's Frank and Alice, bringing little Neville for a visit," he Charles replied.

"Well, then, bring them in. It's been a while since I've seen my grandson.,"

Charles brought the three of them into the drawing room, . Frank and Alice looked at each other nervously.

"Well, what prompted this unexpected visit?" Augusta asked the couple.

"Mum, you know how dangerous our jobs are. That's why we told you that Alice quit her job to stay home with Neville," Frank told her.

"Yes, but that doesn't tell me why you're here," answered Augusta skepticallysceptically.

"Well, now the Death Eaters are going after the Aurors and their families, so we've decided to go into hiding," Frank said breathlessly.

"What do you mean 'go into hiding'? Will you still go to work each day?"

"That means that we will use a Fidelius Charm on our house with a secretSecret-keeperKeeper." ," Frank answered. "I've already quit my job as an Auror, at least temporarily until the danger is over."

"How are you going to support yourself and your family?" Are our lives in danger?" Augusta asked him in a worried tone of voice.

"Well, we do have some savings builtsaved up for a time like this, but if I need to I'll take a muggle Muggle job, and mum, I'm going to ask you to do something important for us. I want you to be our secret Secret-Kkeeper," Frank told her.

"Why would you want to go into hiding now? You knew the danger of the job when you went into Auror training. Your father never felt the need to go into hiding when he was an active Auror, even when he was married and we had you," Augusta pressed on, determined to find out what was happening. She continued, "I mean if it's a question of Neville's safety, we could send him to Uncle Algie's and Aunt Enid's house in Florida to keep him away from England during the war," ." Augusta suggested to her son and daughter in law.

Neville looked up at them at the mention of his name, but continued playing when he found out that they weren't talking about to him.

"I love both Uncle Algie and Aunt Enid, but I don't think that they know how to take care of a toddler," Alice told her mother-in-law, trying to talk her out of that idea.

"That doesn't answer my question about why you're going into hiding," Augusta insisted.

"I'm sure that they have a good reason to do so," Charles reassured her.

"Well, I still want to know why their they're doing this, since they've known ever since they became Aurors that their lives would be in danger. I never knew a Longbottom who ran away from a fight; I don't know about your wife's family. I knew that Alice would be a bad influence on you," Augusta told her son.

"Alice had nothing to do with this," Frank angrily told Augusta.

"Why do you want to do this then? If it isn't Alice's fault, then why?" Augusta asked.

Then both Frank and Alice looked at each other quizzically. Alice nodded her head in agreement.

"Mum, this is hard for me to tell you, but we aren't You-Know-Who's primary target, . Neville is. He'll hunt him down, no matter where he goes. If you want to go visit Uncle Algie and Aunt Enid, you can. As our secret Secret-kKeeper, he would send his Death Eaters after you to try to reveal our whereabouts, to find Neville," Frank told his mother.

The two older Longbottoms looked at the young couple in disbelief.

"Why would they see Neville as a threat? He's just a baby!" Augusta exclaimed while Neville played happily with his toys in the playpen.

"It seems that there was a prophecy that could involve Neville. It states that the one who has the power to defeat You-Know-Who was born at the end of last July, like him. The parents of this child defied him three times, like us," Alice told her mother in law, looking worried.

"I'm sure there must be other babies who fit that profile. Did the prophecy specify one particular baby?" Charles asked the two young parents.

"No, but the other family is thinking about going into hiding too, plus, he may try to kill both babies to get both of them out of the way," Alice told Augusta.

"I still can't believe that evil person would want to harm our Neville. Is the other baby a pure- blood like him?" Charles asked.

"I think that the boy's mother is muggle Muggle-born and the father is a pure pure-blood," Frank answered him.

"So that means that Neville will be the one to destroy him. You-Know-Who thinks that pure pure-bloods are the only wizards worthy to live in the wizarding world," Charles told the young couple.

"We don't know, since we don't know how the baby will be chosen. The other family has been moving around a lot since we were made aware of the prophecy, to try to hide their child from You-Know-Who," said Alice.

"I guess that you would know what's best for Neville. I can be your secret keeperSecret-Keeper while you're in hiding. After you perform the charm, Charles and I can go visit Algie and Enid in Florida for all of our sakesfeties.," Augusta sighed.

"Good, then, we'll perform the charm tomorrow at sundown, since Frank's leave from work starts tomorrow," Alice informed her.

"Good, then I'll go ahead and let Algie know that we're coming to visit him tomorrow for an extended visit, but not tell him the whole reason why we're visiting him now," Augusta decided.

"Greatood, I'm glad that you agreed to do this. I'm sure that Algie and Enid will be glad to see the two of you," Frank told his parents.

"Well, you know that we'll do anything for little Neville," his father told him.

"Another thing. We want you to care for him in case anything should happen to us," Alice reminded her in-laws.

"We know, but you're young, ; we'll die before you do," Charles told the two of them, sounding optimistic.

"I hope that the two of you can stay a little while longer, since after tomorrow, it will be a long time before Charles and I would will have a chance to see him," Augusta said.

"That sounds good to me. Plus, it will give us extra time to visit with you," Frank added.

The four of them watched Neville play with the toys that was were in his playpen for a while, thenand then his grandparents took him out to play with him for a few hours.

About three few hours later, Alice and Frank left his parent's' house with Neville in tow.

Neville didn't want to leave until his mummy and daddy told him that his Gran and Gramps will would come by and visit him tomorrowthe next day. They did not tell him that this would be the last time that he would get to see them for a while.

On the evening of October 31, 1981, the Longbottoms received the news that young Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort and that he was the one in the prophecy, not their Neville. The young couple decided to come out of hiding and asked Augusta and Charles to come home from Florida to reverse the Fidelius Charm, since Alice and Frank felt that it was safe for the charm to be lifted.

A few weeks after the charm was lifted, Augusta and Charles went by Alice's and Frank's house to give the young couple a nice evening out on their own, while they watched Neville.

When they got to the house, they felt uneasy. No one answered the door when they knocked, but when they opened the doorit, they saw the house in disarray. It appeared to be abandoned.

"I think that we need to wait here for Magical Law Enforcement to come and check the house out. I have a bad feeling about this," Charles told his wife.

When John from Magical Law Enforcement showed up and entered the house, he didn't know that he was about to enter a horrific crime scene. Soon, he will needed to call the Auror department and to get a mediwizard to come to the house.

John wouldn't let neither Augusta nor Charles enter the house, because he toldtelling them that they needed to get an Auror team to inspect the house first.

The wizarding world would soon lose the feeling of safety that was in the air after Voldemart's defeat.

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**Author Notes**: Please read and review. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter.

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When a team of Aurors arrived at the Longbottom cottage, they went straight inside without acknowledging them, even though Charles had trained the older Auror. After they had thoroughly searched the house, the older one came outside to brief the older coupleFrank's parents on what was going on. 

"What's going on, Alastor? Why can't we go into our own son's house?" Augusta asked the older Auror.

Alastor Moody, looked somber as he was about to tell his former mentor and his wife, the worst news that they would probably have ever received.

"Well, it appears that they're gone, that they've been kidnapped from their home, and Neville was left on his own for a few days," Alastor told the couple.

"How's Neville? Can we see him?" Augusta asked.

Alastor paused before giving her the bad news.

"Unfortunately, he's at St. Mungo's, transported a few minutes ago after he was stabilized by the mediwizard who just flooedFlooed into their home. I can take you there, since I need to go by there for the final determination of how long he was left on his own and for the Healers to give me a clue about his parents," Alastor told them.

Then he held out a key that would be used as a Portkey that would take the three of them to the wizarding hospital. When they had gotten there, Charles had giaven their names to the welcome witch, where they were who directed them to the waiting area, since the Healers were still treating Neville. When the primary Healer who was working on his case came out, he had a very somber look on his face.

"Well. Neville is severely dehydrated and malnourished since he was left on his own for three days, . iIf you didn't hadn't fiound him when you did, he'dll be dead. There's more., it appears that he was under the effect of the Cruciatus cCurse for a period of time that made it painful for him to move or to be picked up, which is why he was found in his crib and he didn't even try to escape," the Healer told them.

"Can we see him?"

"Not right now;, we're still treating him, with a rehydrating potion, nourishing potion and one to treat the effects of the curse. I'll come and get you when he's settled in his room," the Healer told them.

"Why would anyone want to do that to our sweet Neville?" Charles asked.

"We won't know why any of this happened until we find Frank and Alice and apprehend their kidnappers," Moody told his mentor.

"Could it have anything to do with the prophecy?" Augusta asked.

"What prophecy?" Moody asked.

"The one that said that either Neville or Harry Potter could defeat Voldemoart" Augusta informed him.

"I never heard of such a prophecy, but do you know if Frank and Alice had any enemies, anyone who would be capable of doing such a thing?" Moody asked.

"Well, they were Aurors, so any Death Eater still at large would want to harm them, to get back at them for putting their fellow Death Eaters in Azkaban," Charles answered him.

"Well, thanks for the information. if you think of anything else…" Moody told them. "Wait, do you think that you'll be able to find them alive and catch who did this?" Augusta asked, sounding concerned.

"Well, we'll do everything that we can do to find them and to bring their kidnappers to justice, but right now it's important that you be here for Neville," Moody reassured her.

"Right now we don't know if he'll live or die, so I plan to stay with him," she told Moody, sounding scared of what the future would hold for them, not sure if she was going to plan three funerals.

Then the Healer came out with an update on Neville's condition, which the three of them hoped that she was would bringing them good news.

"He's been stabilized, but with all of the potions that he had to take for all that he's been through, I don't know if he would will make it through the night, due to an adverse effect of them on his young body. We have set up monitoring charms on him, to check on his breathing and heart rate, where we would will be alerted if he's in the danger zone of either one of those things where he could die. You can see him now, but I must warn you that he is still weak," the Healer told them.

"So we can see him?" Charles asked.

"Yes you can, ; since he's so young and has been through a traumatic experience, his guardians can stay with him," they were informed.

"Well then, I guess that we can both see him right now, and then I'll spend the night with him, while you get an update on Frank's and Alice's whereabouts," Augusta told her husband right before the Healer showed them to Neville's room. When the couple had gotten there, they were shocked to find the once active and happy toddler looking nearly lifeless in his crib. The only sign of life coming from him was his breathing.

"I guess I'll better go and find out how the search for Frank and Alice is are coming along,. I hope that they're not dead if little Neville was found in this condition. Let me know if there is a major change in his condition. Will you be alright here by yourself?" Charles told asked his wife right before he left the room.

"I'll be fine, and I'll make sure that you're notified in case there is a major change in his condition., I'm sure that they'll let the Auror office know if he takes a major change for the worse," Augusta reassured him, not wanting to face the possibility that he could die. Charles said a quiet prayer right before he left the room, a prayer for Neville to fully recover from this and for his parents to be found alive. When the Healer came into the room, she transfigured the chair that was in the room into a cot.

"Well, let me know if you need anything, and we'll come in if there is any bad change in his condition," the Healer let her know.

"That's fine with me, as long as you can make him healthy again," she replied.

"We're doing what we can to get him back to toddling around again," the Healer replied right before she left the room.

The rest of the night, Augusta didn't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time for worrying about the fate of her family. In the morning, the Healer came back in to check on them and to give Neville his morning dose of his potions, even though he was still weak and unconsciousness. When Charles entered the room after spending a long night waiting for word on Frank and Alice, he was followed by quite a few members of the press. Surprisingly, the story of Frank and Alice's abduction had struck the interest of several major world newspapers, including the States'. He had the morning's edition of _The Daily Prophet_ out, where the headline read:

**Famous Auror Team, the Longbottoms, found Missing with Son in Critical Condition**.

"Don't they know how to respect our privacy.? Why do they need to hang out here, wWouldn't they do more good hanging out of at the Ministry to get more information?, pPlus, why do they want to pull Neville into it, trying to get his picture in this condition…" Augusta commented to her husband, who had quite a bit of success in keeping the reporters away.

Meanwhile, back at the crime scene, where every available Auror had been were called out from their holidays to try to find two of their own. When Moody returned from determining that they would be lucky to find Frank and Alice alive, after all that Neville went through. At the house, the Aurors they didn't find any clues to where they might have been taken to. Back at the Auror Department at the Ministry, the teams were assigned to look up old case files to get a suspect list of people who would want to harm the Longbottoms. The first list was very long, since it included suspected Death Eaters who were free and the families of those who were in Azkaban thanks to themthe missing pair. Going through the files, they could exclude a large number of suspects since they were either dead or in Azkaban, . Tthough they did look at those who claimed to only do You Know Who's bidding while under the Imperius Ccurse, like the Malfoys and the LesStranges.

"Do you think that all of these people really were controlled by Death Eaters, or were they Death Eaters themselves, capable of doing such a thing?" Derek asked Moody, his partner.

"I don't think so, but since some of them have money, so. The Ministry will believe anything that they say because they give away so much of their money to good causes and they can hire fancy defense lawyers to get them off. You did notice that most of the ones that are's currently in Azkaban are those who didon't have a lot of money to spend on fancy defense lawyers," Alastor told him, sounding frustrated with the process.

"Well, didn't Sirius Black have a lot of money, to pay for a lawyer?" his partner asked.

" Mr. Crouch was feeling the pressure from everyone to put someone in prison for the murder of the Potters, and of course, Sirius wound up being their secret-keeper, plus he killed all of those muggles Muggles on a muggle Muggle street," Moody answered him.

"Oh, but there are a lot of files that we need to go through in order to try to find them," Derek remarked.

"Well then, we'll go through them until we find them, or until someone comes forward with information concerning their whereabouts," Moody replied.

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**Author's Notes**: Please read and review. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter.

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A few hours later, when young Neville awoke, he looked like he was stronger than earlier, before which made his grandparents pleased that he would live, though they weren't aware of any long term damage that might have happened to him.

"Well, it looks like he'll live, but he still has a long way to go before he will recover fully from his attack," the Healer told Augusta.

"Will this cause him to lose any magical ability that he might have?" Augusta asked, sounding concerned.

"It shouldn't, but then we can't be too sure of that until he gets older, since he was attacked by a very painful curse at a very young age,. Pplus, we don't know what the psychological effects will would be,' the Healer answered.

"How much longer will he be in here?" Augusta asked the Healer.

"It depends on the progress that he makes, but right now it's hard to tell," the Healer answered her.

"How does he look right now?" Augusta asked.

"Right now, he's progressing very nicely. He's now starting to take the nourishing potions on his own without him being force fed them like he was earlier, and we're reducing the strength of the potions that he's being giving to treat the effects of the curse," the Healer informed her.

"Another thing, are those pesky reporters still out there?" Augusta asked.

"Unfortunately yes, but they're only limited to the waiting area,; they're not allowed in the rooms," the Healer informed her.

"Good, because I don't want them to take a picture of him like this, . cCan't they find someone else to bother?," Augusta told asked her.

"I don't know, but we'll do our best to keep them out of here," the Healer reassured her. "Good, and has my husband come back here today?" Augusta asked.

"No, not yet, but we can let him in once he gets here and update him on Neville's progress," the Healer reassured her.

"Well, I'm sure that he will be relieved to hear that he will live, hopefully with no long- lasting effects," Augusta told her.

A few minutes later, Charles walked into the room and he was given an update on Neville's condition while she was being updated on the search for Frank and Alice.

"Did you have much trouble getting in here?" Augusta asked.

"No, the reporters were respectful of my need to see my grandson, and one was particularly helpful since he has a newborn daughter," Charles told her.

"Good, because I don't want them to take any pictures of him in this condition," his wife told him.

"Do you think that they will find them alive?" she asked lowering her voice.

"I hope so, but it doesn't look too good with them being gone this long," he told her.

Meanwhile, back at Auror headquarters, Moody and Derek were trying to narrow down the field of possible suspects and hoping that they would get a lead soon. They went back to the crime scene, trying to see if there were any clues that were missed earlier as to Frank's and Alice's location. They didn't find anything new when they arrived there, though they did find a Mmuggle neighbor who had did seen a couple of strange looking people going into the house, about the same day that it was estimated that they were taken. "Could you describe them for me?" Moody asked her after identifying himself as a law enforcement officer.

"Well, it was dark when I saw them going into their house, ; it looked like they were going to a costume party or something."

"What do you mean going to a costume party?" Moody asked.

"It looked like they were dressed in dark robes with a masks hiding their faces. I would guess that they were going dressed as the Grim Reaper."

"Thank you, that helped us out a lot in finding whom we are looking for," Moody reassured her.

When they left they both realized that they were facing a group of people who were trying to bring back the Death Eater organization or even trying to bring back Lord Voldemort himself. After questioning the mMuggle neighbor, they decided not to modify her memory since she thought that they were dressed up in costumes and she had no idea of their true identity. When they got back, they went to the newspapers with this new information, looking for fresh leads. All of the newspapers ran the story about the two missing aAurors, but only one in England would state that renegade Death Eaters were the last ones seen going into the Longbottom home, before they were discovered to be gone. That newspaper was _The Quibbler, _raun by a man who wanted to get the complete truth out, no matter what the Ministry tried to do. Of course they had all sorts of leads coming in, but most of them were dead ends. At the news from their mMuggle neighbor, the two Aurorsy started to go through the records of those who were suspected to be Death Eaters, but were released or never arrested for some reason or another. Alastor had another way to try to find them, ; he was going to question the one ex-Death Eater that he did know, to see if he did have any knowledge about this. A few minutes later, he arrived in Hogsmeade with Derek, getting ready to go to Hogwarts to interview one Severus Snape, who he knew was a former Death Eater turned spy for their side.

"Why are we coming here,; isn't there a Death Eater in Azkaban who would be willing to turn on their comrades for the chance to get out?" Derek asked Moody when they arrived outside the Hogwarts gate.

"Well this one was used to spy on their activities for our side, so his information would be more reliable than one of the prisoners,; besides, the members of the Wwizengamot would be willing to take his testimony," Moody replied.

"Oh," Derek answered him.

"Well, we're here now, so I guess we need to see Dumbledore to get permission to see him and to find someone to cover his classes in case he needs someone to," Moody told him as they entered the school. Well wWhen they arrived, they headed straight for Dumbledore's office, giving the password that Moody had, where he was there. "I know why you're here," Dumbledore said when they arrived. "lLooking at the paper, it seems that you want to know if Severus knows anything about the Longbottom's' whereabouts, but I want to know first: is do you know how Neville is doing?," Dumbledore asked told them.

"Well, the last that I heard from Charles is that he's doing better and that he'll live. Augusta is staying at the hospital with him and has hardly left his bedside," Moody answered him.

"I'm glad to hear that,; it's always a tragedy to lose a child that young;," Dumbledore told them.

"Well, to get on with our search, is Severus in class right now?" Derek asked.

"Well, I think that his schedule shows that he is in class, but I'll get him for you if you don't mind waiting here," he answered him.

He left his office a few minutes later and came back with Severus Snape following him. "Well, what did you want? I have classes to teach. I hope that you remember that I have an immunity agreement with you for bringing you the names of Death Eaters."

"We know that, but unfortunately, we need your help now finding two of our Aurors,." Derek told him.

"Well, I don't know if I could be much help, since I haven't had much contact with them., though I did see the Lestranges a couple of weeks ago, but I don't think that they were serious about what they wanted me to get involved with. in they were serious about,"."

"What was it? You never know how serious they could have been," Moody replied, sounding frustrated that he could ofhave unintentionally withheld important information from them.

"They said that they had a plan to bring You Know Who back to power, but there is no way that they could have been serious about it, since he's been defeated by a one year old boy," Severus answered him.

"Did they tell you more about this plan?" Moody asked, sounding excited at the prospect of finding his coworkers.

"No, but I didn't think that they were serious at the time. Though they did tell me how to contact them if I wanted to help them," Severus replied.

"Can you contact them now for us and then lead us to them?" Derek asked.

"I'm not sure about this. I don't even know if they were talking about kidnapping anyone or not," Severus answered them.

"I should tell you this, that when we found little Neville he was near death and had the Cruciatus curse Curse used against him," Moody informed him trying to persuade Severus to help them.

"I didn't know that they would hurt a baby, even though Voldemort did try to kill Harry, and that's why I went forward in the first place. I didn't want to see any more innocent babies hurt," Severus answered..

Severus thought about what Moody and Dumbledore had told him before answering them,. "I'll go ahead and contact them, but there's no guarantee that the offer still stands."

"Well, let us know when they contact you, we'll be here waiting. You don't mind if we stay here Albus?" Moody asked.

"No, of course I don't mind, since it's been a while since we've visited. and bBesides, I really hope that you find them soon, for Neville's sake," Dumbledore answered.

The two Aurors waited patiently in his office for Severus to return with news of the meeting about the Death Eaters' plans. When he returned an hour later he gave them details of their planned meeting, which would occur the next night in the Hogs Head in Hogsmeade. When the two Aurors heard this, they immediately began to make plans on how they would capture the culprits once the location of the Longbottoms were was discovered. The next day, they waited for word from Severus about whether he'd heard about the rogue Death Eaters' evil plan. When he met them at their appointed time in his office at Hogwarts, the two Aurors awaited him, eager for news.

"Well, did they believe you when you told them that you wanted to join them in their plans?" Moody asked him as soon as Snape returned to his office, eager to hear his answer.

"Yes, and I'm going to meet them tonight to help them in their plans," he told them. Then Moody and Derek planned on how to catch the perpturers perpetrators after Severus led them to them. They even arranged to have a Healer on call there because Severus had warned them that the LeSstranges had inferred that their prisoners were in bad shape, but they would go into detail about their future plans later that night when they met again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter.

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Meanwhile at St. Mungo's, officials informed both Charles and Augusta were informed that both Frank and Alice would be rescued that night, leaving out the part about the possibility of them being seriously hurt. They had also received the good news from the hHealers that Neville was healing nicely and would be able to leave the hospital in a couple of days. The only thing that they could do now was wait for Neville to be reunited with his parents, which they hoped would happen really soon. While they were waiting for their return Meanwhile, they were at St. Mungo's with Neville, who was improving daily,; today that day, he was had been able to walk around the ward. They even took him to the children's play area where he got had gotten to spend time with the other children on the ward. Augusta even got to talking with one of the mothers, who turned out to have been one of Neville's playmates when he was younger. Her youngest son was in hospital after having a bad reaction to a potion that he was had been taking for a bad cough, to where he could hardly breathe. He was only there overnight for observation to make sure that he was okay after he was had been treated. The two boys seemed to be getting along, ; even Augusta was thinking about letting them play together after the two children got out of the hospital, and maybe Frank and Alice would let Neville have him as a playmate once they were found and could go home together with him. The pesky reporters were still there, but were kept away from the patients' rooms and the children's play area. Though Still, a few of them did try to get in by offering to volunteer there, which the The Healers let them, as long as the cameras were left out and they signed a confidentially confidentiality agreement. The Healers told them that Neville could go home in a couple of days, if he kept on improving. This was the first time in a few days that Augusta didn't wish that Neville was the Boy Who Lived instead of that Potter boy.

Meanwhile, the two Aurors were getting ready for their rescue that night.

"Is there anything else that we can do in the meantime? I don't feel right just sitting around here," Derek asked Moody.

"Well, we're meeting with Severus later to discuss our plans for this evening to rescue the Longbottoms. At this point, from the information that we've gathered, that they're still alive, though seriously injured, which means that we'll need to have a couple of mediwizards standing by as well," Moody answered his young partner, trying to sound as professional as possible. A few minutes later, Severus arrived for their rescue mission. his meeting with the two Aurors to discuss their plans for the evening.

"Well, I'm supposed to be meeting both Rodolphus and Bellatrix at their home at 8PM tonight," Severus told them.

"What do you plan on doing once you find out if they have them or not?" Derek asked.

"IWell, I'll cget in contact with you, ; don't worry about that," Severus replied.

"What would be the signal, if they have them?" Moody asked.

"I'll let you know by shooting red sparks in the air," Severus answered him.

"Won't they find out that you're spying on our side and that you're trying to rescue their prisoners if you do that?" Derek asked him.

"Oh, but there isn't any other way to alert you guys to their whereabouts, is there?" Snape asked.

"I don't think so, unless one of us is an animagus Animagus that can get past the wards that they probably have put up on their house, but neither of us are as far as I know;" ," Moody replied.

"I'm one," Derek commented.

"How? You aren't registered with the Ministry, so how can you get by with it?" Moody asked, looking interested in his colleague's ability.

"Well, I'm registered in Canada, and since I'm here on exchange from there, I don't have to register here, which would make a great asset in catching criminals. I'm a Doberman pincher by the way, which could scare suspected criminals or even prisoners," Derek answered him, sounding proud of his abilities.

"If Derek goes with you, won't they know if you have a dog or not?" Moody asked Severus.

"Maybe, but then again, they may not care, if it's something that can be used against their prisoners," Severus answered while seriously considering the suggestion.

"Then can I go with you?" Derek asked, looking eager for the challenge.

"I guess so, but don't be too eager to change back into human form too early, depending on what we find," Severus replied.

"I can do that," Derek reassured him.

A few hours later, both Severus and Derek arrived at the LeStrange Lestrange residence, with Derek transformed into a dog.

"Good, I'm glad to see that you finally joined in our plans, Severus, and it looks like you brought a friend to join in our fun," Rodolphus told him after letting the two visitors inside.

"Bella, look who's here to carry out our plan;" ," he told his wife, who had just come from upstairs to see who was at the door.

"Severus, I'm so glad that you decided to join us after all, though unfortunately it's too late for us to get anything from our captives about Voldemort's whereabouts. sSo right now, we're just having our fun with them until they die. But then, we'll find someone else who'll know where Voldemort is, and then kidnap him and force the information out of them. him," Bella told Severus, sounding excited at the prospect of finding her master and bringing him back to power.

"Who?" Severus asked, sounding shocked and interested at the same time.

"Why that old meddling Auror, Alastor Moody. He's even better than the sweethearts that we have now. Of course, we first thought that if we killed their son, then the Dark Lord could come back, because of the prophecy. We knew that the Dark Lord planned on killing both babies that night, so after hearing about the Potters' deaths we thought that he had gone to the Longbottoms to kill their child. Of course, when we got there we found out that their little brat was alive, as were his parents. We thought that they might know where he was, since the "sweetheart Aurors" was were famous for bringing in our friends and other faithful followers of the Dark Lord. Unfortunately, they didn't tell us anything, not even when we made them think that they're son was dead, nor after being tortured for a few rounds with the Cruciatius Curse. Now, they can't even recognize their own son, even if they saw him, so we're going to continue having our fun with them until they're dead. Now your little doggie can join in on the fun too," Bella informed them, looking pleased with herself during the entire spiel. She motioned the two of them while motioning the two of them to follow her to the dungeons, where they found the worst thing that they had ever seen in this war. and looked pleased with herself during this entire spiel.

They saw the two Aurors that they were searching for on the ground, looking like they hadn't eaten in days and surrounded by their own waste and blood. Severus couldn't help but gag at the site, . but as soon as he saw them, Derek changed back into human form and signaled to the other Aurors that they had found them. In a matter of minutes, the Lestrange home was invaded by Aurors to go after them and to search the house. In their search, they found two other suspects who gave them a run for their money, . they They were surprised to find Barty Crouch's son there but they weren't surprised to find Rodolphus's younger brother there. The four suspects then went into four different directions, trying to avoid capture by the Aurors. Of course, they didn't realize that they the Aurors would split up to follow each of them. Moody went for Rodolphus, while Derek went for Bellatrix. When Moody finally caught up with Rodolphus, he began shooting off spells at Moody, who while he retaliated with some of his own. Unfortunately, Rodolphus got in a few good cutting spells at Moody that hit his left leg, but Moody kept on fighting him, determined to catch him no matter what.

While the battle between the Aurors and the suspects were was going on, the mediwizards entered the building to bring the Longbottoms to St. Mungo's for evaluation, and two of them stayed on call to assist with any injuries that occurred during the battle. The four suspects gave the Aurors a good fight and didn't a run for their money and didn't surrender easily. At the end of the skirmish, the four suspects were finally caught and sent on their way to Azkaban. With Alaster Alastor wanting wanted to go with the rest of the Auror team without getting his injury looked at. He insisted on witnessing the prisoners get being processed and settled into Azkaban before he had his injuries checked out. When he finally agreed to go to St. Mungo's it was too late for them to save his left leg, so they had to amputate it. and h He would be fitted with a wooden one that he would wear for the rest of his life. He was more concerned with finding out what had happened to Alice and Frank after they found them. When they did arrive at St. Mungo's, the reporters gathered around them, hoping to get a picture of the two Aurors and to find out about their condition. The reception witch on duty kept out the reporters the best that they she could. The senior Longbottoms were notified as soon as Frank and Alice were brought in. Augusta was already there with Neville, while and Charles came in as soon as he heard the news.

"Well, they're alive, but I need to speak with you privately in order to let you know about their condition," a kind and sympathetic Healer told them as he led them into his private office. "Right now, it doesn't look good for the both of them; right now it looks like they'll never recover fully from their injuries. Frank is in a comatose state right now, though that could change at any time. We did check for brain injury and he is so damaged that if he wakes up, that he wouldn't be aware of what's going on around him nor be able to recognize anyone that he knows, including his own son. On the other hand, we had to sedate Alice so that the mediwizards could get her here without her screaming every time that she saw us, and we had to keep her sedated to continue examining her here. She is in the same physical condition as both are dehydrated and malnourished. We're force-feeding them both nourishing and rehydrating potions right now. There is one difference with Alice though: she was two months pregnant, and she lost the baby. Do you have any questions?" the Healer informed them, trying to sound as sympathetic as possible.

"When will we be able to see them?" Augusta asked, trying to hold back the tears that she wanted to shed.

"Will Well, you can see them right now, since they're settled in a ward, but afterwards I want you to go home and get some rest since you've spent the past few days here with Neville and he's doing fine now,'" the Healer answered her.

Augusta tried to protest, but her husband interrupted her. "I agree with the Healer, Augusta. y You do need to get some rest, since it looks like we're getting ready to have our world turned upside down."

Finally admitting defeat, she agreed to go home, at least until the morning when Neville would be released, but when they left the Healer's office, the Healer she gave a small vial of sleeping draught for Augusta in case it would be needed. Before the couple left for home, they went up to the fourth floor, where they saw Alice and Frank looking peaceful, as if they hadn't gone through hell the past few days. On their way out, they found one of the Aurors, who let Charles know about Moody's injuries, and since he was sleeping at the time, they decided to visit him tomorrow the next day when they came back to the hospital. When they left the hospital, they were trying to avoid the reporters that were congregating towards the exit. Though Charles did tell one reporter that he would ask his wife about granting an interview, since he could sympathize with them and he wasn't as obnoxious as the other reporters. They went home and mourned their shattered dreams for their future.

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**Author's Note**: Please read and review. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note/Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter. This is the edited version of chapter 5.

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When the elder Longbottoms arrived home, the first thing that Augusta did was to go straight to the attic, looking for Frank's milestone book, to try to determine what Neville should be doing at his age and to try to push him to be just like his father. The next morning, the older Longbottoms arrived at the hospital to visit the younger couple, and their friend Alaster Alastor Moody, and to take Neville home with them. Unfortunately, though, it seemed as if Neville was going to be staying with them for good. Charles didn't forget that he had promised an interview with Xenophilius Lovegood, the young reporter from _The Quibbler_, but they planned to avoid answering questions about any possible suspects that the Aurors might have in custody. Before their interview, though, they went up to see Alaster Alastor, to see how he was doing and to see if he had heard the bad news about Frank and Alice. When they got there, they found Alaster Alastor in bed demanding to the Healers that he be released immediately, since he was needed back at Auror Headquarters more than he needed to rest in hospital.

"Alastor Moody, I can't believe that you won't let these poor Healers do their jobs. Besides, you'll be more of an asset to the Aurors being whole instead of being injured," Augusta scolded her old friend for being foolish and risking further injury to himsself. "But you don't understand, ; I won't want to see those Death Eaters pay for what they've done. You didn't see the condition that Neville, Alice and Frank were found in," Alastor told her, pleading with her to keep her from interfering.

"I don't care. yYou still need to stay here and let them take care of you," Charles added. "Fine, but I want to see them later on today, if they can trust me to visit their room," Alastor finally relented.

"I can see if the Healer and the Auror on duty will allow you to visit, under supervision, of course, since you might try to escape from here," Augusta told him after chuckling at the last bit.

"I won't, and I tried to tell them that, and they still won't let me leave this blasted room. I don't think that they even trust me, now, since I've had either an Auror or someone from Magical Law Enforcement posted in front of my room," Alastor told them, sounding frustrated at being stuck in hospital when his friendsthe Longbottoms needed him most.

"Well, I'll go outside and see why they're outsidethere," Charles reassured his old friend. Charles then went outside to speak with the person who was posted in front of Moody's room at that time to find out what was going on. He suspected, as well as Moody probably did too, but didn't want to admit it, that Moody's life was in danger by rogue Death EatersDeath Eaters who hadn't been caught yet.

"Well, it seems that Moody seems to be in danger too," the Auror on duty answered him on why they were there. He and who happened to remember Charles from the Department before he had retired.

"I'm sorry to hear what happened to your son and his wife, ; in fact, all of us who are in Magical Law Enforcement are," the Auror told him as he went back into the room.

"I hope that they catch those bastards who hurt themem and lock them up in Azkaban for the rest of their lives too, but it looks like you're in danger, so you have someone outside your room to protect you. It's not to prevent you from doing your job," Charles told Moody.

Moody scoffed at that news and sat up in his bed, since he knew that he was beaten with Augusta trying to bully him to stay in his room and him having a guard in front of his room.

"Did you catch them or could there be more?" Augusta asked Moody, sounding interested in what he had to say.

"Yes, we did catch them, and I wouldn't even come here until they were caught. I didn't even seek help with my injuries until I personally made sure that the ones responsible were locked up in Azkaban, . hopefully Hopefully they'll rot there," Moody told them proudly.

"That was stupid, waiting to come here, and as a result of that you lost your leg, which you would still have full use of if you had come here earlier instead of waiting. You could have died, which would have helped no one, which would have been your own bloody fault if you didhad. I'm sure that Frank and Alice would not want you to sacrifice yourself for them," Augusta yelled at Moody for his stupidity in waiting to go to St. Mungo's. After listening to his wife's tirade directed at Alastor, he Charles agreed with her on the fact that Alastor had needlessly risked his own life and that he was lucky that he only had lost a leg. When the two elder Longbottoms left the room, they wished him to get well. After they left, Moody just sulked in his room until the Healer came in to see how he was healing, though he did try to make conversation with whoever was guarding his room. After their visit with moody Moody, Augusta and Charles Longbottom met with Xenophilius Lovegood of _The Quibbler _to give him an exclusive interview about their feelings about their son's and daughter in law's states. Of course,, which he was excited to get since every reporter in the wizarding world wanted to interview them, after since they couldn't interview anyone close to Harry Potter about the Potter's deaths and the news about the Longbottoms rocked the wizarding world on its ear. The hospital was kind enough to let them use an empty room for their interview for privacy and convenience.

"Well, how does it feel to find out that Frank and Alice were taken from their homes after everyone thought that it was safe to go outside again?" Xenophilius asked.

"I thought think that it was horrible that the Ministry would still let those Death Eaters run around and get their revenge for the Longbottom'sFrank and Alice's capture of their fellow Death Eaters, and to harm an innocent child in the process," Augusta answered him.

"Do you know that this case would will turn our world upside down, since we all thought that we were safe when this happened and to two of our best Aurors?" Xenophilius asked them.

"Well, as one of our old friends would say, that we need to be constantly vigilant, since we could can never be truly safe from evil," Charles answered him.

"That's right, ; I mean, we never thought that at our ages that we would be raising another child. I mean, you think of the possibility when both your son and daughter in law are Aurors, but you don't think that it would happen to you," Augusta answered Xenophilius's question.

"Well, that answered my next question about your awareness of the risks associated with having two family members being Aurors. Do you think that this would will discourage others from entering Auror training?" Xenophilius asked.

"No, I hope not, . I only hope that this will make others want to fight Dark Wizards as much as Frank and Alice did. That's all of the questions that we're going to answer for now, since we're going to pick up Neville and take him home with us. I hope that you respect our wishes not to photograph Neville's homecoming," Charles told him.

"As I told you earlier I would will respect your privacy, since I wouldn't want anyone to photograph my Luna after suffering such trauma and tragedy.

"Good, that's why we picked you to do this interview," Charles reminded him.

"Good, I'll go ahead and go home now, . I'm sure that my wife and daughter are both equally excited at me being home this early in the day," Xenophilius told the older couple.

After the interview, the older Longbottoms went to visit Frank and Alice in their new room up on the fourth floor. The both of them were awake and didn't even recognize the older couple as they went in and sat by their bed. The younger couple still had marks on their body bodies where they had been tortured. At the sight of their son and daughter in law in that state, the older couple tried to hide their disappointment and talked to them about what they'dve missed out on in the past few months in their world and lives while the younger couple was in hiding. Even though both of them were awake, Frank still wasn't aware of his surroundings and A Frank was still in a coma and Alice looked like she didn't understand too much of what was going on around her. , Augusta and Charles still talked to them, even though they didn't reply. Charles had read somewhere or heard on a show on the wireless that people in a coma could listen to their voices and sometimes it could help them come out of it. Augusta agreed with Charles, since and she was willing to try anything to make her son better in spite of what the Healers told them. They finally left the younger couple there half an hour later to go and pick up Neville from the children's ward. Now, that they knew all that he's he'd endured and seen, they wondered how his experience would affect his development. When they arrived at the children's ward, they found Neville already dressed and in the children's play area listening to a story from one of the volunteers. Augusta and Charles waited for the volunteer to finish reading the story before taking him home. While they waited, they filled out the paperwork that the Ministry required to make them Neville's temporary guardians until at least one of his parents recovered, but they could become his permanent guardians if it was apparent that both of his parents wouldn't recover. Both Augusta and Charles weren't thinking of this, they were only thinking of bringing Neville home with them, no matter how long it took Frank and Alice to get better. When they were finally able to take him home with them, they were shown out the back entrance since there were still quite a few reporters around who wanted to try to get either an interview with them or photograph them while leaving the wizarding hospital. As soon as the three of them arrived at Longbottom Manor, the elderly couple finally realized the possibility that they could be the ones raising Neville, since his parents wouldn't be able to do so. When Neville was introduced to his new surroundings, he started to look around out of curiousity, . even Even though he'd been to the house many times to visit his grandparents, he sensed that this would be his new home. The three of them were immediately greeted by the family's house elf, Blinky.

"How long is young Master Neville going to be staying with us?" Blinky asked curiously as to when her Mistress's son and daughter in law would recover.

"Well, it looks like he's going to be with us for a while," Augusta answered her, not wanting to admit yet that Neville could be living with them permanently.

"Well, you're home with us now, Neville," his Gran told him while she put him in the play area.

While Neville was playing quietly with his the toys that were brought over from his parent's' house, his grandmother was looking for books on defense that could help him to defeat You Know Who or any other dark wizard. Plus, since she had read in the _Daily Prophet_ that Harry Potter went to live with his muggle Muggle relatives, this would put Neville ahead of Harry when they started Hogwarts. She made a note to ask her husband what Neville would need to defend his self, like he had taught her and her friends how to defend themselves against intruders during this war.

"What are you doing?" Charles asked her as he walked into the library after putting Neville down for a nap.

"I'm trying to find out how to prepare Neville to fight evil wizards and to prove that he should have been the Chosen One instead of Harry," his wife answered him while continuing to search for various books.

"Augusta, he's too young for these books and you know that he can't even learn how to do magic until he starts Hogwarts, and for all we know, unless he's he could be a squibSquib," her husband responded to her.

"I don't care. I want him to avenge his parents. , but But do you think that he's a squib Squib, and that's why he's not the Chosen One?" Augusta answered sounding concerned.

"No, I don't think that, but he needs to be a child first, before he learns any magic. Besides, it's against the law to teach children about magic before they start Hogwarts anyway, and they can't use magic outside of school," Charles tried to reason with her. "Well, I can't remember him showing any signs of magic, ; I bet that's why he wasn't chosen. Harry shown signs of more magic than him," Augusta declared to her husband. "Well, think about it, Augusta. iIf he was the Chosen One, then Frank and Alice would be dead right now, not in St. Mungo's where there's hope for a cure if not today then tomorrow," Charles told her.

"Right now, I wish they were dead," Augusta finally admitted to her husband.

"You don't wish that, you just want things to be the way they were with Frank and Alice living in their own place with Neville. but But you don't want them to be dead," Charles reasoned withtold her.

"Fine, I want things to be like they were before this, which wouldn't have occurred if it wasn't because of that stupid prophecy. That's why I want him to prove that it should have been him mentioned in the prophecy and not Harry, ; he's not even going to be exposed to the magical world until he gets his Hogwarts letter and Neville will," Augusta admitted to her husband.

"Well, right now I want Neville to have as normal of a childhood as possible, . Hhe doesn't need to sense your disappointment in him right now," Charles told her as he stormed out of the library.

Augusta just stood at the door, stunned that her husband would even dictate how she should raise her grandson. After standing there for a few minutes she left the library and went upstairs to try to find her husband.

She found him in the nursery, just watching their grandson sleep peacefully. and sShe came up to him and whispered to him, "He looks so sweet like this, doesn't he?"

"Yes, he does, ; I hope that he's this good all of the time, but it may not be," Charles whispered back to her.

"I know," she whispered to her husband as they tried to sneak out of the room.

As soon as they got out of the nursery, Neville woke up from his nap and immediately began crying for his mum. His grandparents were sad at this when they realized that his parents would never be able to recognize him and be able to te hold him again, nor tell them that they loved him. Augusta came, and when she picked him up he immediately stopped crying. She took him downstairs with her, where there was a knock at the door. When Neville heard the sound of someone at the door he started to scream and to wiggle out of his grandmother's arms. A few minutes later Augusta's brother Algie and his wife Enid came into the house carrying a lot of clothes for Neville and a large teddy bear for him, that was almost as big as he was. As soon as he saw his great aunt and uncle he immediately tried to hide from them, and then tried to get his grandmother to do the same after he finally got out of her arms. The four of them saw his strange behavior and wondered if he remembered who their visitors were, and that they wouldn't hurt themhim. It took almost an hour for Augusta to find him and finally coax Neville out of his hiding place, which he left tentatively, still eyeing his great aunt and uncle suspiciously. When he did finally leave his hiding place, his great aunt and uncle gave him the giant teddy bear that they had bought for him, even charming him it to dance around to entertain the young toddler. When Neville saw the teddy bear dancing around he approached it suspiciously but he finally started to watch it and clap his hands in delight.

"Well, the trial starts tomorrow, ; do you want to watch him if he's okay to be with you?" Augusta asked her brother and sister-in-law., Hhoping that they could watch him so that both she and Charles could attend the trial of those who were responsible for nearly killing Neville and his parents and putting his parents in such bad condition that they would never come home.

"We don't mind watching him, if Neville agrees to it and doesn't try to run from us as if we plan on hurting him," Algie answered his sister, looking very concerned for her and Neville.

"I'm sure that he won't try to run away from you again, ; he is starting to trust that you won't hurt him," Augusta reassured him, while pointing out that Enid was now playing with the toddler with no problems.

"Will he try to hide every time that someone comes to the door or when one of the house house-elves pop in here?" Algie asked his sister and her husband, sounding concerned for the both of them.

"It may take a while for him to get used with to strangers coming in and out of here, but you've got to remember he was nearly killed and his parents were taken by intruders in his home," Charles reminded his brother in law.

"I realize that, but do you know if he'll be this scared of strangers for the rest of his life?" Algie asked.

"Right now we don't know how this experience will affect him, but right now we're happy that he's alive and home with us now. Besides, did you have to get him all of those clothes? iIt's not as if he didn't have any at his house anyway, but thanks for the gesture. I hope that you're planning on getting Frank and Alice something," Augusta told her brother.

"We didn't know what all he would have, plus Enid loves shopping for baby clothes. and wWe will get something for his parents once we know what they can have in the hospital," Algie replied while pointing to his wife who was still playing with Neville while Augusta shook her head in disbelief.

"Fine if you say so, but some of those outfits are cute., but if If they don't fit him then we can size them to fit," Augusta told him right before the other three adults joined in trying to entertain the toddler.

Both Algie and Enid were spending the night at Longbottom Manor so that they could babysit Neville the next day, to allow Augusta and Charles to attend the trial of those Death Eaters who had hurt Frank, Alice and even little Neville.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter.

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The next morning, Augusta and Charles got up early, nervous about the upcoming trial that day. Augusta was glad that both Algie and Enid were going to watch Neville so that both she and Charles of them could go to the trial, and based on Neville's reaction to them last night, she didn't trust him with anyone else. When they arrived at the Ministry, in the lobby of the courtroom they were immediately bombarded by reporters and they saw a large turnout of people who wanted to see justice carried out for those who had taken away the wizarding world's sense of security. When they entered the courtroom, the elderly couple found it to be almost as crowded like as it was outside. , since iIt seemed that the entire wizarding world wanted to be there for the trial of the century, since Sirius Black neverhad not received a trial for betraying his friends and setting up Harry to be the Boy Who Lived. They were brought to the witness area of the courtroom for witnesses, since they were going to give a victim's impact statement for the trial. They were able to find some good seats in the middle of the observation section of the courtroom. When they brought out the accused, the couple couldn't believe the proud look that they had on their faces, as if they were pleased with wroud of what they had done. Most of the crowd, though, was were disgusted by their crimes and hoped that they would either get sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban.

When the couple saw the four suspects being brought out, they were slightly afraid, since theythe couple had have to live with the effects of their the suspects' crimes. Nobody was shocked when all four of the defendants confessed to torturing the Longbottoms into insanity and for injuring one of the Aurors who was responsible for their capture. In an earlier trial that was closed to the public, due to the age of the victim, they had confessed to torturing Neville Longbottom and leaving him for dead. They had already been sentenced to 50 years in Azkaban for that crime, even though the general wizarding public didn't know it at the time. In this public trial, the Wizengamot thought that it would be appropriate to hear from their victims to help them in sentencing the four defendants. Augusta Longbottom was the first one to stand up to give her statement for the court.

"Charles and I now have to raise our grandson at our ages, with the knowledge that his parents are alive and that they will would never be able to care for him again. I have to live with the knowledge that my son will never be whole again, to tell his father and I that he loves us. We've had to sit and wait to find out for a few days where Alice and Frank were. We didn't even know if they were alive or not,; the only thing that we knew was the shape that our grandson was found in. We never thought that this could happen to us., I want them to be sentenced to life in Azkaban, since they would have to live with the memory of what they've done to our family and the horrible truths that we now have to live with," Augusta addressed the Wizengamot on behalf of herself and her husband.

"Does anyone anything else have anything to say before we decide on a sentence?" the judge asked the crowd.

After a few minutes of silence, the Wizengamot wizengamout finally went into conference to determine the defendant's' sentences. After only a few minutes of deliberation, they finally came back with the sentence of life in Azkaban,. At the news of the verdict, everyone in the courtroom cheered. Even though the defendants got the punishment that the Longbottoms thought that they deserved, since death would be too good for them; they would be the ones living with the consequences of their actions for the rest of their lives, unless Frank and Alice died first. When the older couple left the courtroom, they were bombarded by reporters who wanted them to give a statement on the outcome of the trial. They tried to bypass the reporters and photographers, whom they were disappointed since they hadn't gotten didn't get to see Neville at the trial.

"So, how did it go?, Ddid those bastards get what they deserved?" Algie and Enid asked Charles and Augusta as soon as they had arrived home from the trial.

"They got life in Azkaban for Frank and Alice, plus fifty years for nearly killing Neville," Charles answered them.

"I can't believe that they only got fifty years for trying to kill a baby, but at least you can rest assured that they'll never get out and try to hurt anyone ever again," Enid tried to reassure Augusta and Charles about their family's safety.

"Well, at least in Azkaban they'll have to live with what they've done for the rest of their miserable lives," Charles told the two of them, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

"There you are, here's my big boy. Well the bad guys who hurt you are going away for a long time," Augusta told her grandson, who was playing quietly in a playpen set off to the side of the room, and who was not fully understanding what the grownups were talking about.

"Well how was he?" Charles asked Algie and Enid.

"He was pretty well -behaved, and he even ate his food like a big boy," Enid told them. "Well, I guess now that you'll want to go and see Frank and Alice now, and besides, Neville needs to go see his parents," Augusta told her brother and his wife while picking up Neville.

"What about lunch? I mean, have you eaten yet?" Enid asked the Longbottoms, sounding concerned about their well-being.

"No, but then I guess we can eat quickly before we go visit them., I know that you want to see them," Charles answered his sister -in -law.

About half an hour later, the four adults and Neville went to visit Frank and Alice at St. Mungo's, where they were greeted by a Healer as soon as they had gotten to their ward. "Frank has finally woken up," the Healer told the group.

They group immediately rushed into the ward by Frank's bed where he just lain there with his eyes opened and unfocused. The four adults were looking at Frank with mixed feelings about him waking up, until Neville tried to get his father's attention. When he couldn't get him to notice him, he looked at his father with curiosity and started screaming, which made the visitors and Healers in the ward look at him with curiosity and pity. Enid decided to have Neville visit his mum, and when she brought him over to her bed, Alice looked at her visitors with interest, but she didn't seem to recognize them. This didn't seem to matter to Neville. He still outstretched his arms, waiting for his mum to pick him up or tell him a story, but she didn't make any move towards him. When the four adults who came with him saw this, they finally realized how serious Frank's and Alice's conditions were. The Healers told them after witnessing this that their condition would be permanent, and that there was no hope of recovery for them. Everyone looked somber at that news, that these young parents would probably never be able to have a close relationship with their child.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter

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**Twenty -Two Years Later**

Neville Longbottom and his grandmother entered the Charles Longbottom Rehabilitation Center to visit his parents who had recently moved there, after being in St. Mungo's for over twenty years. When they got to their room, they weren't in their room, but in the recreation area for the residents. They saw Frank sitting in his wheelchair near one of the windows in the room and Alice was listening to a kid's show that was on the wireless. Right when they entered the room, Alice looked at the doorway and saw both Neville and Augusta enter the room. When she saw them, she didn't make any movement towards them, but the two of them knew that once her show was over, that she would pay attention to them. It was very different from the old days, when both Frank and Alice were kept sedated in St. Mungo's. At least here they arewere learning how to live with their disabilities. One surprise was Alice, who started to compete in the Muggle Special Olympics just a couple of months after the final battle at Hogwarts.

Neville went to see his father first, who had first learned how to communicate with the Healers during the last year of the war when he washad been sent to a private Swiss clinic along with Alice for their own safety. He still communicated with a board with the alphabet on it, though now Alice can verbally express her wishes and concerns. Once her show was over, Alice came over and greeted her son and mother- in- law with a hug.

"Well, since we don't have a lot of time together, since you are either at practice or at work, its great that you can make time to be with us," Augusta told Alice, sounding proud of her, since she even though she now worked at a Muggle McDonalds keeping the dining room clean for about thirty hours a week.

Neville pushed his father over to them where they could be together as a family.

"Well, mum and dad, how have you been doing?" Neville asked his dad.

"Fine," Frank typed out on his board.

"Good, I bet that you feel better now that you don't have to take those horrible potions," Frank's mother answered him, looking at him with interest.

"Well, I wanted to tell you that I've got a gentleman caller now," continued Augusta. "He's the second one after Charles's death. I don't know if you knew this or not but Alastor and I were keeping company with each other from the start of June in Neville's sixth year until he was killed," Augusta told them while Frank and Alice looked at Neville with curiosity.

"Of course, Neville hasn't had a girlfriend since he broke up with Luna Lovegood five years ago," Augusta told them while Neville looked embarrassed that his Gran would talk about his love life with his parents.

Alice came up and put a reassuring arm around her son, that she didn't care if he was married or not.

"Well, I'm sure that they would love to hear about you trying to replace granddad with someone else," Neville answered his Gran sarcastically.

"Well, then I'm sure that they don't need to hear about my love life, Neville," his Gran reprimanded him.

"It isn't because of your father and me why you haven't found someone?" Alice asked her son, sounding curious in her soft spoken way..

"No," Neville reassured her, though he was lying about it, since the reason that he broke up with Luna was because he wanted to let her pursue her own dreams without being burdened with his parent's care.

"You need to find someone," his mother told him.

"No, I don't. Let's talk about something else;, you won't believe this, but I've been offered the position of herbology professor at Hogwarts, since Professor Sprout is retiring this year," Neville told them, sounding pleased with his accomplishment.

"Well, it appears that your son has a green thumb like you did, Frank, though sometimes I wish that he would become an Auror like you and Alice. Though he performed admirably in the war and showed great courage," Augusta told her son, sounding proud of her own grandson.

Both Frank and Alice seemed to have smiled at her, at the praise of Neville. Neville looked embarrassed at his grandmother's words and wished that his grandfather would see them now. At least one good thing about the Death Eaters taking over the British magical government six years ago was the evacuation of the patients who were at high risk for being killed. They had been and transferred to different facilities for their own safety. Now Neville thought that they were being treated better than they were at St. Mungo's earlier, at least now even if his dad couldn't speak to him he could type out little words and phrases on his board and his mother could talk to him, though abstract concepts were hard for her to grasp. A couple of years before, he had been brought to tears when his father had typed out, "I'm proud of my son," on his board for the very first time.

"Well, since Neville here brought it up, I guess that I better tell you that I've been keeping company with Mr. Ollivander from the wand shop. I want you to know, Frank, that he'll never ever replace your father, though sometimes I think that Neville suspects that I'm trying to replace Charles his grandfather, but I do get lonely sometimes in my old age," Augusta admitted this to her son while Neville wondered how much longer they had to visit.

"Well, it looks like your father is getting tired, why don't you take him to his room for his afternoon nap? I'm sure that he would like to spend some time with you," Augusta told her grandson, who got up and wheeled his father to his room.

When he got there, his father typed on his board, "I love you son, and so does mum," which brought Neville to tears even though his father typed that to him every time that he visited them.

He signaled to one of the Assistant Healers who helped Neville move his father from his chair to his double bed, which he shared with his wife. Around the room were pictures of them in happier times and of Alice's trips to the Special Olympics. There were even pictures of the four of them at a special summer camp for people with special needs and their family members, where he had gotten the week off from work to go. He was proud of his parents now and not ashamed of them like he had been. He hated to admit it, but being compelled to move them out of St. Mungo's during the last year of the war and into a private Swiss clinic had brought about these positive changes in them. Now they' were in a wizarding long term care facility that had opened after the war, thanks to donations from donors like Andromedea Tonks, who used her sister'sthe money from her sister's estate to help pay for a place like this. It was fitting, since her sister had helped to put some of the residents in there, like his parents. He didn't want to think about what they would have been like if they had stayed at Saint Mungo's; they might behave been dead or in the same condition that he remembered from his earlier years. Now his mum held a job, though it was a menial job working in a Muggle restaurant, called McDonalds but it was a job none the less, and she was making the wizarding world proud with her making the Great Britain Special Olympics team in the 100 meters and 200 meter relay races thisin the past year. She also trained once a week in judo, which would be useful for her to learn self defense. When he came out of their room, he found his Gran who was still with his mum and a Healer Molly who had come to get his mum for track practice.

"You can come and watch if you want to;, they won't turn you away, you know. I hear that they even have volunteers who help out with their training," Mollyinformed them.

"I don't know about that, but I'll look into it," Augusta told her.

"Well, my husband volunteers and he loves it, though he mostly drives the athletes to and from practice and competitions, plus he loves all things Muggle so he's in heaven going to a Muggle event," Molly told her just as Neville was reentering the room.

She The Healer then took Alice away and came back a few minutes later to speak with the two of them in a conference room. "Well, I guess that you know the progress that the two of them are making since they've arrived here. Both of them are now communicating with you in their own different ways and are gaining more confidence. Talking about Alice's participation, we may want to think about allowing Frank to participate in the Special Olympics too," she told them.

"But how can he compete? He can barely move, even in that chair, ;why, he needs help in getting in and out of that chair?." Augusta asked.

"Well, he won't be competing in the same type of events that Alice does, but the Special Olympics organization has a program that designed for people like Frank. It's the Motor Activities Training Program, and it's meant to develop his motor and social skills. He'll have to train three times a week for it, but it would be good for him in the long run since it would help in developing his coordination and social skills," Molly the Healer told the two of them.

"Well, if it would help him, then I'm all for it, aren't you, Gran.? I mean, we took a chance with mum competing in this Special Olympics thing, and she's doing well in it," Neville answered her, sounding hopeful.

"Neville, I don't want you to get your hopes up. This won't magically fix your father," his Gran reminded him.

"I know that, but if this would help him to keep active, then I'm for it," Neville answered her, sounding like he would be willing to do anything to help his father.

"Well then, I guess that we'll try this new program out, then at least on a trial basis. I mean, it can't hurt him," Augusta answered Molly.

"Great, then I'll get the paperwork started and he can start next week. Besides if any of my children were like Frank and Alice I would be willing to do anything to help them, even use Muggle methods. Then if we used Muggle methods to treat any of my children, then my husband would probably love it," Molly answered her. As the two of them left the facility they both reflected on the changes that they had seen in Frank and Alice in the past twenty two years. Of course they would never be able to return to their old lives, but their lives now were better than the one that they left behind in St. Mungo's. Augusta remember seeing the three of them and thinking that they were all survivors, she finally realized that Neville was always courageous even though she didn't notice at first, since it was a quiet courage.


End file.
